Base to Race training structure-the idealist manual

It's lashing rain and I'm bored off my head so I thought I'd write a bit here on training structure to help people out from what I've learned over the years and to help me put my thoughts in Order as well. I mainly want to talk about periodisation as it is in my opinion the most important aspect of training and also the non-existent aspect in most amateur runners training. I'm no expert but this stuff is all borrowed from the greatest coaches to ever live and every successful coach from the 1960's on has used this overall training structure. It was so revolutionary that the marathon world record plummeted 8 minutes in 20 years!!!

The reason I'm writing this is due to the misuse of some of the terms I see on forums everywhere when it comes to things like Base and to try redirect the idea that very slow running is the ideal in every scenario, it's not but it's still very important for recovery and low level aerobic stimulus. A lot of books in general annoy me because of their one dimensional approach to training like Jason Fitzgeralds "80/20", not because they aren't well written and informative but because they focus so heavily on certain rules that they don't really show that training is malleable and that stress dictates training more than numbers or rules, they are almost overtly black and white.

So, If I'm going to start anywhere...It has to be with the godfather of modern training named Arthur Lydiard. Lydiard was a New Zealander who experimented on himself to find the best methods at first. This ranged from hard low volume training to running up to 280 miles per week. He is the man responsible for creating the basic training structure that has been behind 99% of every Olympic gold and World Record in every mid to long distance race since the 1960's. He also coached everyone from Joe Bloggs down the street to cardiac bypass patients using these methods. He is the most important coach in history and his approach is relevant to everyone, not just freak athletes.

Arthur Lydiard training

Lydiard eventually settled as a high mileage proponent, this was the same whether you were an 800m runner or marathon runner. His most famous 800m athlete was Peter Snell who would long runs on hills of 22 miles with the marathoners during base but I'll get back to that a bit later.

What Lydiard is most famous for is periodisation, A fancy way of saying phases of training leading up to a race. This is a periodisation table of Lydiard:



See, certain phases for certain lengths progressing from one to the next up to a race(that's what periodisation is)

Base

Base training is unequivocally the most important phase of training in Lydiards opinion yet you will rarely ever see amateur runners do it or misconstrue what a base phase is. A base phase is where your engine is built; As an old coach of mine who has a 48 minute 10 mile PB used to say to me "without the base, you are just a wet and empty sack pissing about". The reason a big strong base is important before you do anaerobic training(intervals etc) is because the stronger you are aerobically, the more punishment you can take and faster you can recover from harder workouts in the following phases.

Where people misconstrue base training from what I see is that you will often see people referring to building a base while doing hard intervals, this isn't base building. Base building is an aerobic phase with no specific race intervals.

The other side of the coin is that people think base is just easy running, that really shouldn't be the case either. Easy running is perfect when you are running hard interval sessions coming up to a race and need to recover while also gently keeping your endurance up but there's no intervals in a base phase so the need for true easy running is diminished. What Lydiard prescribed was a lot of marathon paced runs and slighly slower steady runs during this phase and a lot of volume too. If the stress of intervals is absent, it means you can run harder most days and accelerate aerobic improvements.

The base phase is also where your volume should be at it's highest because the intensity is low and you want to build that big engine. Most people get this backwards and their highest mileage is hit in the last few weeks leading up to a race when the intensity is also at it's highest(looking for injury and overtraining). Its like being able to walk 10 miles and trying to run 15 doing it this way, it's not logical. Lydiard and every other coach worth their salt would have peak mileage reached at the end of the base phase nearly 3 months before race day and the mileage gets cut down as intensity is added in the form of intervals and hard workouts. A guy doing 80mpw in Base, would only run 60 when training gets specific with intervals.

Hill phase:

I won't write much here as he kind of phased out this stage of training as he got older and it's based around hard to find drills and would probably injure most modern runners. The idea behind this phase though is to build strength and power through hills circuits to transition between that big base and adding race specific speedwork and to build a frame on that foundation.

Anaerobic phase

This will be the type of training most are familiar with here. Lung busting, leg sapping interval workouts that are race specific with easy runs in between. Base is foundation, this is how you peak. The idea of the anaerobic phase and doing interval workouts is to get fast but temporary gains. They get you sharp but like any peak, there's a drop at the other side. A lot of people do these year round but that shouldn't be the case as your body can only take this intense form of training for so long before it takes it's toll. Pretty much every top coach will limit this to 6-8 weeks as you it can fry your body and lead to overtraining if you constantly do these.

Lydiard would have his runners do a lot of interval workouts and time-trials at below race effort in this phase each week as they were strong enough from the mega mileage but that's not really the most relevant point 're periodisation. The length of the phase is. Bar taper, this phase has the lowest total weekly mileage of a training block because the intensity is very high.

Integration:

This is just a fancy way of saying of saying pure speed, the idea is improve your running economy so that the pace on race day will feel easier. People kind of do this already with strides leading up to race day but this is more idealists guide. Lydiard would have his athletes do workouts like sprints, 100's and 200's fast but with the focus more on speed than lung busting strength. Good recoveries and good form are most important here.

Taper

This is more personal and training block dependent I feel. I don't think there's a reason to have a cut and dried length to this and your body will probably tell you when it's time from experience. To refer than usual, a longer taper might work and some people will run better off a shorter taper. Generally, the more aerobically fit you are, the shorter a taper needed.

I hope this doesn't come off as preachy, I just think it's so important and doesn't get enough attention as this is literally the most revolutionary training concept of the last century, I don't think I should've called it the Idealist guide either as I think it should be the first thing people try to emulate and is much more important than getting frisky and clever with workout designs. Coaches have improved on the structure of the phases since Lydiard created this and have taken different approaches to it but the main ingredient of structure is still in the DNA of it and Lydiard is a good place to start as it's a more simplistic version than more modern day Canova type periodisation.

I also apologise to any pedantic type Lydirites who may happen across this and have a bone to pick with something, this is more a exceprt on periodisation than perfect Lydiard. One thing I will say is that if anyone takes home the message of the importance of the overall structure of the phases and what they are and implements them, I guarantee they will improve a sh!toad. I might write a bit more on different and more modern approaches if there's interest and I'm bored enough. Feel free to add, discuss or rip apart if you wish.